Cold temps, blustery winds greet deer hunters

On the opening weekend of gun deer season, Brian Argo and his daughter, Katie, head back out after a brief break from hunting Sunday, November 20, 2016, near Shiocton, Wisconsin.(Photo: Ron Page/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)Buy Photo

It was chilly and blustery when Mike Burkart shot a 10-point buck, his 88th deer, Saturday morning south of New Holstein.

"It was a nice deer," the New Holstein resident said Sunday in a telephone call with USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. "He was sneaking through the only patch of brush that was there. He didn't sneak very far. He met his fate."

Burkart, hunting with two friends, was the only person in his party who even saw a deer, which is now skinned and stuffed in a cooler.

A seasonally-crisp Saturday marked the opening of the state's iconic nine-day gun deer season. The state's Department of Natural Resources has high expectations for buck sightings this season, as last year's fawns sport their first antlers.

New Holstein's Mike Burkart poses with his 10-point buck near Marytown on Saturday morning.(Photo: Courtesy of Signe Burkart)

Hunters were greeted by cold, but less windy, conditions on Sunday. Preliminary harvest figures for the weekend were not immediately available.

Burkart said Saturday's strong winds were not favorable for hunters.

"It probably helped me out, in that the deer didn't see or hear me," he said. "Of course, I didn't hear him either."

Jeff Pritzl, a wildlife supervisor with the Department of Natural Resource's Northeast District, said he was "pleasantly surprised" by the number of hunters who told him they had positive results Saturday, despite the windy conditions. A small accumulation of snow early Saturday — less than an inch fell in parts of the Fox Cities — helped hunters, he said.

"There weren't a lot of shots to be heard, partly because of the wind," Pritzl said. "If you were in the right spot, deer sighting was probably pretty good. (But) a lot of people I'm sure were challenged."

Wisconsin has the fourth largest number of hunters in the country, estimated at 649,000, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Hunters here harvested 222,731 deer in 2015 and 222,588 in 2014, both of which are a far cry from the 528,494 harvest in 2000.

The DNR altered its carcass tag licensing system this year, which allows hunters to print their carcass tags at home and reprint them if they get lost or damaged. A paper tag must be attached only if the hunter leaves the carcass.

"The people I've dealt with have got it figured out," Pritzl said about the change.

Buy Photo

On the opening weekend of gun deer season, Eric Mich (left) talks with Brian Argo and his daughter, Katie, as they take a break from hunting Sunday, November 20, 2016, near Shiocton, Wisconsin.(Photo: Ron Page/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

Through 4 p.m. Friday, hunters had purchased 533,502 gun licenses, DNR figures show. The number is about 17,000 fewer than the same time last year, Pritzl said.

"Last year's number was up a little bit from the previous years," he said. "If we fell back off a little bit, we're still probably really close to the average. It will still grow a little bit over the course of the week."

Eric Mich, of Fowlerville, Michigan, spent Saturday day on his father's 213 acres of property north of Shiocton.

At 2 p.m., the 30-year-old pulled his rifle's trigger after he spotted a doe 270 yards off in the distance. At 3 p.m., his hunting partner and friend Kevin Anevicius shot a spike.

"It's a good start," Mich, who averages about two deer a year, said.

He grew up hunting with a 20-gauge shotgun. Today, he uses a rifle with a 2.5-12.5x42 Trijicon scope — an accessory he helped to design.

"It's really cool to be able to design a product and use it in the field," he said.

On his 80-acre property three miles north of Hilbert, Sherwood's John Hocks, joined by his sons Adam and Jared, spotted eight deer on opening day — but no bucks.